I've Got Peace Like a...River With Raging Rapids?

  

  I guess this is just a rhetorical question, but do you have any idea as to how hard having peace of mind is? There is so much to think about, so much to surmise about, so much to WORRY about.  Before you start sending me verses on how wrong it is to worry, just let me say this--you know you do it too! I'm one of those who seems pretty calm on the outside, but deals with emotions mostly internally; hence, one of the reasons I have high blood pressure.

   How many times have you heard the song:

      I've got peace like a river

      I've got peace like a river

      I've got peace like a river in my soul!
   

I've seen some peaceful rivers, but I've also seen some rivers that have twists and turns and raging rapids.  I was just reading a story today about a family that took a ride on the Nile River in a rubber raft. The mother in the story was enjoying lying back and enjoying the peaceful ride when she heard a thunderous sound. Minutes later the little, rubber raft was heading toward a violent, swirling, misting rapid of water. She was thrown from the rubber raft only to realize that that was the kind of river ride she was on and had 5 more rapids to face before the trip was over. Isn't life like that? You're riding along all calm and peaceful like, when you begin to sense trouble up ahead. We don't always know the degree of trouble we are heading for, but if your anything like me, I can imagine the worst scenarios sometimes.    

     God knows exactly the prescription for my kind of anxiety:

Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

 

Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

 

The prescription for anxiety is a good dose of Jesus! 

 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus in the morning

Jesus in the noontime. 

Jesus, Jesus, Jesus when the sun goes down! 

 

You can't overdose on Jesus. You can and should fill your thoughts with the One who has your best interest at heart; the One who loved you so much that He sent His only Son to die for you; the One who knows with every stroke of the hairbrush the numbers of hairs you lose from your head. 

 

Here are some ways to keep your mind on Jesus:

1. Pray about everything. Prayer is talking to God. He already knows the secret places of your heart, so there is nothing that you can hide from Him.

2. Praise God and thank Him for every little thing and big thing He has done for you. This is a great thing to do when you are lying in bed at night thinking those worrisome thoughts.

3. Listen to good preaching.

4. Sing songs about Jesus and to Jesus.

5. Remember all of the times that God answered your prayers and took care of you.

6. Read your Bible.

7. Meditate on God's promises like the ones in the verses that I gave.

 

The rivers of life are going to have some pretty wild rapids to navigate, and we need to know how to traverse through those troubled and sometimes frightening times. God wants us to have His perfect peace.